On an August Saturday between two and four, more than two hundred guests showed up at Otey Hall of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Franklin, Tennessee, to celebrate the release of a new Williamson County anthology.

"Book Cover" Cake

“In celebration of our tenth birthday, CWW presents Gathering: Writers of Williamson County as our literary legacy, offering a showcase for the creative works of our members and Hall of Fame honorees — a blend of emerging and established authors. This volume is a gathering of writers, all 31 of them distilled into this one Place in time — those who are homefolks and those who came here with experiences of elsewhere, those who are published and those previously unpublished. ‘Above the slumbers’ of this once-tranquil, now teeming town, their voices rise and mount the hills and ‘ride astride the swells of dwindling pastureland.’ ”

Kathy Rhodes, Madison Smartt Bell

“This volume is a gathering of words and lines that form fiction and creative nonfiction — 42 titles rich in qualities readers treasure in Southern literature: a sense of place and character; a love of the land; an appreciation of language, humor, and tradition.”

Dave Stewart, Bill Peach, Alana White, Susie Dunham

Ginger Manley, Laurie Michaud-Kay, Carroll Moth

Susie Dunham, Olive Mayger, Suzanne Brunson

This book reflects the richness and depth of talent in Williamson County. It is my hope and desire for Gathering to become an ambassador for this Place we love and live in, and that the book will travel well outside the borders of our county and show and tell who we are.

“May Williamson County be proud to proclaim of our gathering: ‘These too are yet mine.’ ”

I will long remember how Otey Hall buzzed with excitement on a hot Saturday afternoon, as folks flowed in and through and lingered at author tables for signatures. I will remember the energy generated, the smiles and laughter, the support of loved ones and townsfolk, and the shiny cover of a new book that will long be with us!

Kathy Hardy Rhodes, Currie Alexander Powers

Gathering. Buy it, give it, treasure it. It is mine, it is yours, it is ours.